kony

on march 5, 2012, the world was introduced to the kony 2012 film. in 25 days, the film received over 86 million views (and if you weren't one of them, embrace a part of internet history and go watch it. it's a 30 minute video and will affect you in one way or another).


my initial reaction to the video was: "wow. i'm so oblivious to the horrors of world; completely stuck inside my own head without a clue. i need to do a better job of tuning in. thank goodness there are good, active people in this world to take care of those who need it cause i'm awful at it"


...or something like that. i did not request to receive an action kit. i did not vow to participate in "cover the night". it didn't change the way i live my life. it just made me think in that moment. and i hadn't thought about that video again...


until today.


a facebook friend (and fellow grad student) posted the following status earlier this afternoon:

"I do not normally rant on my status, but I just ran into a sorority girl supporting the Kony 2012 movement. This is absolutely ridiculous. Were you there supporting the first Gulf War when Saddam attacked Kuwait. More recently were you there supporting our troops intervening when Saddam was killing his people (not limited to children) in Iraq. There are atrocities all over the world. The fact that you only become an activist because of a youtube video makes you a moron. You are an ignorant person. The world has vetted this organization yet you support it."

well. obviously this resulted in some good ole facebook debate. actually, no thats not true. every person who commented on the status was completely in favor and agreed with it...up until i decided to say a little something. i felt it ironic that a fellow ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS student would say, "the fact that you only become an activist because of a youtube video makes you a moron"  and i said so. i mean, really?? we're gonna hate on people because of the WAY they found out about a movement? oh okay, cool. as a future pr professional, i give the filmmaker props. 86 million views in 25 days. shoot. that's awesome.

he responded to me by saying: 

"People need to be aware of the powers of propaganda and be willing to do research before jumping on band wagons. I understand peoples' desire to help and make the world a better place. My question is where was the stop Hussein campaign. Why don't kids care about the atrocities in Syria, North Korea, or America, because no one has made that cool yet." 

i guess my problem is this: does the basis of an individual's support for something good really matter? is there anyway the basis could out shine the genuine concern for another's well being? the 3.6 million people who pledged to campaign along with IC only want to help those who are hurting. whether their support is based on their own research of the situation or strictly on how they felt watching this video ... who cares? how can you criticize people wanting to do good? 

instead, rather, let's criticize what deserves to be criticized: the public masturbation displayed by the filmmaker, jason russell a few weeks after the film's release. and i'm sure his family's decision to claim it only as a symptom of his "brief reactive psychosis" was hoped to be another successful pr move... but not so the second time around. 

whatever. nothing like a little facebook debate to shake up a boring saturday night watching a horrible movie with your parents. 

the mon

one of my good friends here in tuscaloosa was diagnosed with mono yesterday.

i'm indifferent about the mono.

i got it my freshman year at auburn, just a few weeks after moving into my super disgusting dorm room. my doctor told me i needed to take a week off from school to start getting over it so i packed my bags and headed back to birmingham. that entire week was miserable, i felt like a train had run over me ... put itself in reverse, and ran over me again. that was the the bad part. i chose to look at the fact that i couldn't eat anything as the good part because i lost about twenty pounds and became smaller than i had ever been (i'm super close to fitting back into those jeans though ... fingers crossed)

at the time, i was dating this guy i met while working at mcalister's deli that summer. he made me laugh and i had fun with him ... but that was really all there was to that relationship. i didn't know that though until he refused to come visit me once i came back to birmingham. he said he couldn't risk getting sick and had to think of himself first. and my response to that was: "k, bye". relationship over. (we kinda had another fling the next summer ... but after that, the relationship was REALLY over. promise)

mono stricken jennifer just told me the boy she's seeing refused to NOT see her and so far, has come to hang out with her everyday since. i pondered this... and drew some conclusions.

and here is my point:

in a nutshell, that's all we want. we want the kind of man (emphasis on man) who will be there to sit with us when we have mono. the kind that plays our favorite song in his car cause he knows we love it. the kind that appreciates a homecooked meal and helps clean the kitchen. the kind that wants to hang out with our friends because he knows they mean so much to us. (and ... my new absolute deal breaker...) the kind that doesn't lie about little things ... or just in general would be nice too.

i've always said that i would much rather go to mcdonald's every night for dinner with someone who treats me the way i know i deserve to be treated then eat cheesecake factory with someone who makes me feel like dirt, tricking me into thinking i'm happy.

after all i've been through, i've learned that everything mentioned above is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. i'm twenty-three years old and still searching for that needle. however, i'm 100% sure i have better tools to find it now than i did a year ago.

i know i'll find it...i don't care how long it takes.

the last thing i am is a quitter.

even though i bailed on my softball game tonight ... that doesn't count though.

sb twelve

today, march 17, 2012, marks my final day of spring break ever. EVER.

(unless of course i decide to get my doctorate degree and become dr. amy .... psh.)

throughout the years, my sb's have included trips to disney world, san francisco, san diego, gulf shores and of course ... destin (alabama's (un)official sb beach).

 this year's sb, however, has been off the chain. yeah, i
-worked on my media plan
-had my car worked on
-used a groupon for a free manicure
-got fried at the pool while my friends turn a lovely, lusty shade of bronze
-watched some movies
-did some more homework
-bought a pair of capris but then returned them the next day cause they were damaged
-went with my friend katie to lenscrafters

i know. insane, right? my friend who went to dc and my friend who went to new york told me they were green with envy. but we can't have it all.

seriously though. its a nice segway into real adult life i guess ... accepting that my fun, chill, relaxed student life is four months from over and big girl kicks off.

my heart just sank as i typed that.

 its okay, its okay.

i'm only a few days away from booking my last big whoo-rah before that all starts: 4-day cruise to cozumel !!!!!!

yeah, who am i to complain?

a hypocrite. i'm a hypocrite, thats who.

auburn family

comfort zone

 a new perspective. a new attitude. a new mindset. a new start. 


all reasons why i said "yes" when my friend stephanie begged me to join her and another classmate in an inter mural softball team.  


yes, it's true that i haven't been on a ANY soft of athletic team since fifth grade (thankfully, it just so happened to be softball)

and yes, it's true that while on that team ... they stuck me in the outfield where i mostly gazed at the stars and picked at the grass because fifth grade girls don't hit balls out that far. 


but nevertheless, i'm trying to step outside my comfort zone and try new things and meet new people. so i'm now a member of the Moody Blues softball team at the university of alabama (don't ask me where that team name comes from ... i'm clueless. all that matters is i don't have to wear crimson and white.)


we had our first game last wednesday night and i was dreading every second of it. it was the first time in over 10 years that i had swung a bat or thrown a softball. to make matters worse, the captain of the team found great relief in the fact that i had played softball before (i mean, if you can even call what i did "playing softball") ... so he decided to make me the second basewoman ... which had me shaken to my very core. me? second basewoman? like ... an actual important position? no way. 


as the game started, i took to the field with my heart knocking against my chest. this was supposed to be FUN and to me, it couldn't have been farther from. i felt like all eyes were on me even though there were like 10 other people on the field including stephanie who has never played softball or baseball in her life. bless her.  


in the first inning, our rival kept hitting balls in the outfield with our players scrambling after them, struggling to keep each hit from becoming a homerun. we were getting CREAMED.


all of a sudden, a girl hits a groundball and its headed directly to me. dang it. time slows down and i panic in my brain. i hadn't practiced catching groundballs before the game. only pop-ups."i'm not gonna make it, i'm not gonna make it" ...................


turns out, that groundball had nothing on me and i got the out. talk about inner joy!!! 


as the game progressed, we kept getting pooped on. i, however, got another out at first (more inner joy) and scored a run. 


but in the end ... we lost 24-8 ... by the mercy rule. 


whatever. the point is: i had fun! stepping outside of your comfort zone is definitely refreshing. 


oh, and it boosts my ego knowing that i'm the second best girl on the team ... according to stephanie ... second only to the girl who played softball in high school. 


heck. yes. 

two

back in august ... two major things happened in my life:

1. i moved to tuscaloosa, alabama ... a place that i was raised to call "Hell" by my super passionate auburn alum father. i've been a resident of t-town now for almost seven months and i wouldn't necessarily say it's Hell ... though i definitely have an opinion on the place. someday soon i need to devote an entire post on life as an auburn grad living in t-town ... shoot, that might be the title of my first book publication ...

2. i accidentally deleted my precious, my lovely, my ever-so-fun blog that contained three years of beyond incredible stories, snippets, ponderings, everything. it was awful. call me a nerd ... but tears were shed. that sweet blog included the zesty details of my life with classic stories like when i thought a recipe was supposed to make six massive meatballs, not serve six people. and the vivid description of the night my friends and i slid down a snowy tennessee mountain in my car. and the tale of the drunk naked lovers arrest in the auburn crossings hot tub. and the numerous stories from my disney college program days (including my meaningful meeting with celine dion). all off it. gone.

and it's not like i could just up and create a new blog right away. i needed time to mourn. well, that and life got super busy with a whole mess of different changes.

i attempted to remain somewhat in the blogosphere by creating a tumblr ... but let's face it. tumblr is just no good. i managed to post some pretty entertaining pictures, videos, quotes, links, etc. but i don't know. tumblr's just weird. and i say that as a social media LOVER. love love love social media. but tumblr ... it's a hipster's blog. and i am no hipster.

my itch to actually write recently got the best of me. so, i'm back to blogging ... back to writing ... back to using those little brain cells that i've only been using to calculate circulation percentages and code magazine advertisements.

writing is cathartic, at least for me it is. how'd i ever think i could go along without it? dumb.

it's 2012. a new year ... i'm a few weeks late in this recognition but its here just the same.

a new year. a new perspective. a new attitude. a new mindset. a new start.
2012 ... my breath of fresh air from the rot that was last six months.
and so it is ...

that i guess the Lord knows what he's doing after all.